Population Pyramids and the Demographic Transition Model - how does your country stack up?
1..Go to the International Statistics Database and select a Stage 2 country (Haiti). Click on the country, then use summary for the output type, and medium for the graph size. Look at the shape of the pyramid. Are there more babies or older people?
2. Use Vietnam for a Stage 3 country. Describe its population pyramid.
3. For Stage 4 use the United States, and for Stage 5 use Italy or Japan. Describe the shape of the pyramids and the ages of the majority of the population.
4. How are the pyramids different for different Stages?
5. Go to About.com and read the articles about the largest cities in the world. Map the top 10 cities on your world map, using the atlas at your desk.
6. Go here and find your country (I will assign one to you). Gather the following data - write in on the back of your map:
Birth rate
Death rate
How long do people there live? Life expectancy (total)
How fast is the population growing? RNI (population growth rate)
Are they educated? Literacy rate (total)
Are they poor? % below poverty line
How are they compared to the US? GDP per capita purchasing power parity
How many people live on farms (labor force percent in agriculture)
Do more people live in the city (urban areas) or in the country (rural)? Use your best guess based on the information you are collecting
How many work in service industries? (labor force % in services)
Do they have good transportation systems? Look at paved/unpaved roads, railroad, airports
Look at the population pyramid for your country (click on the link at the top of this page) - what Stage is it in on the DTM?
7. On your own paper write a paragraph about your country using the information you found on the Internet. Be sure to discuss what will happen in the future - will the country's population increase? Will the country be poor, or well-off? Draw the shape of the population pyramid for your country at the bottom of your paper (find it at the link above).